We take pride in our ability to not only become those people who ‘makes sites and print stuff’, but truly work together and build working relationships.

Nothing feels better than when a client emails to say hello, or when they refer people to you having nothing but good things to say. It’s been an amazing few months of relationship building, which inspired us to bring back to life one of our back-burner projects – TheMcAllenmetro.com.

The McAllen Metro is a directory of people representing businesses who go out of their way to become more than a product or service provider. They are the best at what they do, many give back to the community, others wouldn’t admit that they do.

TheMcAlenMetro.com is still in its early stages (a few days old,) but will be lookin’ nice and become fully functional soon. It isn’t a list of people we’re playing promoter for, it isn’t a list anyone can get on. It’s a list of businesses and organizations spearheaded by people who care and do the best at what they do even if it doesn’t make it into the paper, or the blogs, or beyond them.

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Cognitive Dissonance by definition is the feeling of remorse after someone purchases something usually big and/or pricey.

From a consumer point of view, it honestly can suck. Realizing that the damn ring you got your girl-friend or wife could have waited a bit longer sucks. Realizing that maybe you could have gone for the 42 inch TV, instead of the 50 and been just as happy can suck. Having someone build a website for you, only to find out it hasn’t done anything worth the money for your business or organization sucks as well. A lot of the impulsive buys can suck a whole lot.

So how can customers deal with it? Well, if it’s an item, I can be returned, resold, traded, etc. As business person you also have one truly awesome option.

The always awesome follow-up – Following up wither customers is really essential to keeping them happy, and keeping them happy is the key to keep them coming back.

Follow-up calls, emails, letters, and visits show determination to build a relationship with your customers, and doing it isn’t a big deal.

Setting aside a few minutes every day to call recent clients to ask how everything is going with the product or service(s) you provided or are providing really goes a long way.

One call can make a difference. Think past sales, think past tomorrow and next week, think long term and think about relationships instead of numbers. Intangible assets are often most important to businesses and organizations.

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I still have a lot on my plate, but things are starting to clear up. So now I’ll simply say I hope the rest of 2009 is nothing like the past 20-some days.

I also hope Obama doesn’t do anything stupid.

I’m out.

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At some point last August I realized I wasn’t quite comfy being the guy in the tee. I hate polo-styled shirts and only own one, which I’ve worn once. So I took a step into dress-shirts and ties.

Now at every social occasion I’m usually wearing one of my many nice shirts, and ties. As of lately, unless I know I HAVE to dress-up, I tend to loosen the collar and tie, while rolling up my sleeves, and pairing it up with nice jeans lately… you know, so I won’t look like a total dork. Even like that, I’m still usually over-dressed.

I even go to class randomly wearing my spiffy get-up –so to speak, for no apperant reason which gets people asking what I was doing before I got to class; “Job interview today?”

So the question is, should I ease up or not give a damn? I tend to get a lot of compliments on what I’m wearing, but I also feel weird standing next to those my age that are wearing torn jeans and a shirt straight out of Hot Topic.

Quick fact: My favorite tie just happens to be purple.

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College has been the greatest thing this year; however, after doing spring, summer I, summer II, and fall semesters back to back, I’m just tired. I’ve gotten almost all A’s and B’s with two expectations. I’ve learned a lot and grown more confident with my skills and knowledge.

On the personal side of things, I’ve been happy, sad, lonely, and sick of people. I’ve come full circle and the fact that I’m blogging instead of kissing a hottie on New Year’s Eve, is most likely the result. But that’s nothing to complain about. So I won’t. I’ve grown further from people and closer to others, just bumps I guess.

I’ve also been good health-wise despite being told by my doctors that I’m under too much stress, my first reaction was “no duh.” I got sick once this year (a cold,) and I nearly passed-out (presyncope.) But I feel great!

So I guess in the end, I can’t complain that it was a tough year for me because even if it was the worst, I worked hard to accomplish a lot and make it a good one. I have no New Year’s resolution simple because all I want and need is already on my mind and I’m working my way towards it.

Have a great 2009!

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Cognitive dissonance has often been mentioned in just about every damn book I’ve read since beginning college, so this is a subject I’ve spoke and written about a few times, but I thought I’d blog on it with a Holiday twist.

I personally know a few folks who can’t make a big purchase without feeling a bit of regret; however, I also know a lot of people who just love to run up their debt and don’t seem to give big buys a second thought.

I fall into the first group. When buying something big and or expensive that I don’t really “need,” I tend to quickly get over the post-purchase high, and whatever I thought was worth my cash at the time doesn’t always make complete sense later. A lot of junk loses its fun all too quickly.

The other group is the one I keep on seeing shopping all over the damn place. The type of folks who are simply impulsive, they are the same folks that must have the biggest, coolest, and newest… whatever-everyone-else-has.

Here’s my recent inspiration for the post: I was at Target this past week and a nice looking couple was shopping for gifts in the same section I was in. I could hear them go on and on talking, bringing up names and how much should be spent on each person to stay on budget. At some point the woman said, “Look at this, it costs more, but Rudy really wanted it.” The dude looked at her and said “The other kids are gonna’ wonder why he got the best gift.”� She replied, “But he’ll love it. What if they all get the same thing?” Some tension was noticeable in her voice, she almost sounded uncomfortable and cheerful at the same time. Kind of like Britney Spears turning down potato chips, (I imagine.)

At that point I moved to another section, (I can only checkout the tech-crap section for so long!) But I imagine they did get the kid whatever they thought would make him “happy.” I’m also pretty confident that in the end they wound up making themselves feel better by thinking that the happiness of others is more important than their own damn budget and possibly their debt.

I really don’t get people sometimes. I don’t get the ones who have a holiday spending spree, fully knowing they really are already too stretched financially. Everyone seems too in love with their credit cards to stop and think. No second thoughts, just a great Christmas. Although, I suppose the group who gets in over their head will eventually suffer from cognitive dissonance, but it won’t be until January or February when the bills come in.

How’s that for starting a new year?

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I’ve decided to slowly let go of some drafts that never quite made it onto the blog. Here’s the first one which was last edited on February 2, 2008 at 4:40 am. At the time I was a McCain admirer more than full on supporter.

So Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race yesterday after a totally crappy Florida primary, McCain is seemingly unstoppable at the moment and the Huck is also kickin some major ass considering what he has to work with. About two (3?) weeks ago I posted campaign buttons on here, I got teased by one person calling McCain old and Huck “weird and saggy”.

I laughed it off because up until that point I hadn’t been too impressed by any candidate, my vote was up in the air and I was starting not to give a damn, the emails came in, mostly from draftrudygiuliani.com, he was an early on favorite, I signed up with the site on 11-17-2005. Time went by, candidates came and went, some annoying but entertaining ones stuck around longer *cough* Ron *cough* Paul *cough* *cough*

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A) I’ve been designing for way too long, since I was a bit over 12, actually.

B) I’ve moved up from using (and loving) Frontpage back in the day, to loving Dreamweaver even more after taking a while to get used to it a number of years ago.

C) I still would hate to fall into designing for a living although sometimes it gets tempting.

D) I genuinely have fun designing, meanwhile table-less design, CSS, and ajax no longer annoy me.

and E) I’m nothing without my favorite software.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Some same-sex marriage supporters are urging people to “call in gay” Wednesday to show how much the country relies on gays and lesbians, but others question whether it’s wise to encourage skipping work given the nation’s economic distress.

Organizers of “Day Without a Gay” — scheduled to coincide with International Human Rights Day and modeled after similar work stoppages by Latino immigrants — also are encouraging people to perform volunteer work and refrain from spending money.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,464024,00.html

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Creative is all I’ll say… Creative.

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As things clear up in South Texas the destruction that was left behind by Hurricane Dolly is more and more apparent. There are still many people without power, and some running low on food and essentials. The local media is doing a pretty good job reporting everything going on.

Meanwhile, local, state, and federal help is flowing in and besides minor problems and a lot of complaining –and rightly so in some cases while maybe not all. A lot are being helped and there’s a lot more help on the way.

The thing that gets to me is the fact that no one died is being downplayed. Property can be replaced, and the poorest will most defiantly get help along with the others in need. Things could have been worse and there is a lot to be grateful for –life, for instance.

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A few minutes ago Fox News just reported Tony Snow died. I’ve been a huge fan of his work for a long time and I can’t get past the fact that this really sucks.

I have a draft post talking about how there hadn’t been much said about him recently on Fox News and it turns out he was really sick. I’ve written/blogged about him a pretty lot over the years (not on Luisrocks.com.) He was great on Fox News Sunday, great on Weekend Live, and great as Press Secretary. I was betting he’d make another strong come back after the cancer re-occurrence that ultimately took his life.

He was great on screen and by all accounts a great guy off. Tony was 53 years old.

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The instructions are: “Compare or contrast (not both) the viewpoint of one character(choose one) of understanding eternity or truth (choose one) according to Book 6 or Book 7 of Plato’s The Republic to the viewpoint of eternity or truth from another character from Book 6 or Book 7 from Plato’s The Republic. Follow with a character from an O. Henry story or Saki story as an example of one view you are explaining. You are to have a paradoxical introduction.”

I’ll end this post with two words, “I’m” and “screwed.”

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